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Published on 12/22/1997 All articles from this issue

Council drops environmental study of Hillview center, looks to Covington

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Council hope remains focused on Covington School as the spot for a new city-owned gymnasium.

The Los Altos City Council voted to drop plans for a simultaneous environmental impact review of the Hillview Community Center site as a possible backup location to Covington School for a gymnasium and recreation facility.

"I prefer to not go down the road with Hillview right now," said Mayor Kris Casto at the Dec. 16 council meeting, "and put all our eggs in one basket with Covington."

The Dec. 16 council vote rescinded an Aug. 5 council action that authorized simultaneous environmental impact reviews of both the 401 Rosita/Covington site and Hillview.

Newly elected Councilman King Lear requested the item be on the agenda because "council never decided Hillview would be a second choice," he said.

Lear, who served on the citizen task force that developed a master plan for the city-owned Rosita property, said he had reasons why Hillview "is not a good site."

While the school develops its own master plan and the city waits for an answer, the question of a backup spot remains.

"I believe we need an alternative site," said Councilman Lou Becker at the Dec. 16 meeting, "so if this does fall apart, we haven't wasted a lot of time.

"But the alternate site doesn't have to be Hillview."

Councilman Francis La Poll said there were things council could be doing in the meantime and "not wasting time. We could fund raise, and we could raze the buildings at 401 Rosita."

La Poll said he wants Rosita considered as an alternative site for the gym.

The Rosita-Covington site is just south of El Monte Avenue, near the geographic center of town.

Becker said that, "if Covington falls through, I can tell we'll have a real problem of where the alternate site will be."

Newly elected Councilman John Moss, who just completed two four-year terms on the school board, said one possibility the school study could suggest is to turn the Covington site into a junior high and then turn the current Egan Intermediate School into an elementary school.

The Egan site has 20 acres and "an elementary school doesn't need 20 acres," Moss said. "Then maybe there would be 10 acres for a gymnasium."

Council voted unanimously last July to accept the task force recommendation to develop the 5.4 acres of city-owned Rosita land in conjunction with the adjoining Covington School site, putting the gymnasium where the multipurpose room currently is at Covington.

The school district facilities study and master plan is estimated to be complete by June 1998.

The school district faces increasing enrollments and needs more space for classrooms.

Currently the Covington site is used for district offices but could be reopened as a school if needed.

While waiting for an answer from the school district, the council thought simultaneous environmental reviews would save time and money later.

An environmental impact study of one site costs $20,000 to $25,000 and takes six to nine months, said Planning Director Larry Tong.